What will Ford have to do . . .

[BULLfreak]

Ford & Grothe

Thunder & Lightning

[SRQ]

I believe that everybody except Normal will be quite pleased.

[Ruger7mmmag]

The key more than Ford is having our OLINE being able to open some holes.  If they can do that, it won't matter who we have back there; we'll be able to move the ball.  If Ford is all he's cracked up to be; the difference between a 3-4 yard gain should be regular gouges for 5-7 yards with the occasional homerun.  It also means one on one coverage for the WRs.  Don't care what his stats are as long as we get one on one on the outside.  When you get that, you can play with almost anyone and it keeps your QB off his back.

He needs to justify 8 in the box.  We get that and teams are going to have some serious problems if we go 3 wide.

[LakeBull]

All I expect is for him to push up the level of competition at RB, so that as a group they can step up and take pressure off Matt to be most of our offense.   The group needs to step up, not just Mike Ford.   If defenses are worried about more than what Matt can do I'll be happy.    

We have some talent at running back and should have more than a one trick pony.   From what I'm hearing Williams looks better and better.   Mo and Ponton have both looked very good in the past.  When Mo fully recovers watch out.  He sure filled in well for Andre prior to his injury.   Talking about lightining, Aston Samuels has serious wheels.   While I don't expect an instant impact don't forget about Kelly coming as a FB in the Fall.

If Ford developes faster that will be great, but he does not need to dominate from day one for the team to be successful or for me to consider him a success.   For his second season he needs to start looking like Andre not this coming year.  Even Andre probably would not have looked like our memories had he been at USF as a Freshman.   The first we saw of him he was already a Junior.

[lanshire12]

Make it into the starting lineup this season.  That would mean he's getting the grades and busting his ass.  Remember he'll have to beat out Ponton, Plancher and Williams.  That would be a pretty impressive feat to me.  

From what I've read regarding Spring practices, Aston Samuels may be getting the bulk of the carries come fall.  Josh's articles have got me really excited to see him play.

[BiggTipp]

a few games with 150+ yds...20+ carries every game

[Cubanbull]

It will be interesting

I foresee the Elon game with 4 or more backs with 8 or more carries.

Samuels

Plancher

Ford

Ponton

Williams

can one guy break out and become the main ball carrier?

I like Williams and what he gave the team last year but he is not the answer. we need a guy that can take a small hole and turn it into a 50-60 yd gain.

[RandyGator]

He needs to :

1. Make the starting lineup

2. Make the short yardage plays

3. Be an effective receiver

4. Avg. 100+/game for the last half of the season